Painting Styles

o Although Howling Wolf’s drawing is seen as näively executed by the standards of Western art, why do we conclude that his record of the treaty signing event is more honest than the illustration rendered by the other artist?
In Howling Wolf’s drawing he actually shows the “Medicine Lodge Creek”. In John Taylor’s drawing, the omission of women is obvious, whereas Wolf’s drawing is dominated by native women. There was a cultural bias, so I think it was deliberate in Taylor’s drawing to leave the women out. In fact, almost all of the figures in Wolf's drawing were women. They are depicted in great detail, with their backs to the viewer and attention focused to the signing. Their hairs are braided with red paint in the part. A Plains warrior paints a woman's hair ceremoniously to display his commitment to his lifelong partner. In Howling’s drawing, he did not draw the Plains pictographic style. The native women in Howling’s drawing are full bodied, if they are not completely modeled. Howling’s drawing; he carefully placed the figures in ink. He added real life cultural details to the drawing by identifying himself and others through adornment and decoration.

o Why did the White artist ignore the many native women who were present at the treaty signing? Do you think this omission was deliberate or unintentional due to cultural bias?
I think the white artist ignored the women present at the treaty signing, because the women in the Plains society were important. The women sat with their backs against the viewers and the women would be in formal attire. The whites probably didn’t want to draw attention to the importance of treaty signing, because the treaty was requiring the Plain tribes to have their children go to school to learn how to speak English. The treaty restricted the movement of the tribes and their traditions the tribes were use to would be no more.